How Mood Stabilizers Work in Bipolar 2 Disorder: Explained with 3 Analogies
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Drawing from my personal experience with Bipolar 2 and its effects under mood stabilizers. I’m using analogies to help explain it further.
What are mood stabilizers? — Mood stabilizers help regulate the activity of neurons (brain cells) that are involved in mood regulation.
What is Bipolar 2?- Bipolar 2 disorder is a mental health condition characterized by cycles of mood swings (hypomania and depression) but with a less severe version of the highs (mania) seen in Bipolar 1 disorder.
The effects of Bipolar 2 for me aren’t like an instant switch, that changes from happy to sad. Sometimes the highs of my happiness can last days, or weeks. And the sadness can happen sporadically. It can be not easy to explain. So I have come up with analogies to help explain.
Imagine a building with two doors.
One door reads “Happy” and the other “Sad”
Due to no regulation on the doors. People rush into the “Happy” door. And people rush into the “Sad” door. And back and forth. Meaning the building itself can become chaotic due to the overpopulation. Resulting in overwhelming shifts in mood.
How Mood stabilizers affect the building.
Now imagine the building with a bouncer in front of the building doors.
The bouncers regulate who can and at what volume people enter each door. The mood stabilizers help regulate the influx of people (emotions) through each door. Meaning the building is never overpopulated.
The bouncers aren't perfect, however. And some do miscount the influx of people. But they do help provide a sense of control over the comings and goings of people.
Now imagine a river that’s overflowing after a storm flowing down from a lake. The lake and river are spilling over with all emotions.
Now this overflow can be too much to handle and the force of the river can become overbearing.
Because of this, we can become engulfed in the ever-flowing river.
Which can result in unregulated changes. (mood changes).
How Mood Stabilizers affect the river.
Now imagine the river with a reinforced dam.
The dam helps to regulate how much water can flow between the lake and the river. Resulting in a much more stable overflow of emotions.
The dam doesn’t eliminate all the emotions, however. It just helps regulate them. The dam provides a sense of control over your mood.
Lastly, imagine an orchestra with no guidance.
Due to having no uniformity, some of the instruments can sometimes play out of sync, leading to chaotic music (Changes in mood)
How Mood Stabilizers affect the orchestra.
Mood stabilizers act like a conductor, helping the instruments work together more harmoniously, resulting in a more balanced and pleasant melody (stable mood).
Again it isn’t perfect. As mistakes can happen. However, the conductor provides the orchestra with a sense of control over the melody of emotions.
End note
I want to also make a note of how effective Therapy can be to help self-regulate the flowing ever-changing emotions due to Bipolar 2.
Mood stabilizers are a subjective medication. What works for me won’t necessarily work for you. I can only speak from personal experience.
And lastly, mood stabilizers aren't a miracle drug that prevents the full effects of Bipolar 2. But it can help regulate the overflowing river of emotions.
